Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) NKJV.
Greetings, Dear Songbirds!
My goodness, it seems like a long time since we've gotten together. I have missed you! I want to update you on the direction I feel the Lord calling me in regard to my writing.
I have been blessed to be allowed to start writing devotionals for Rest Ministries, which is a ministry for people that deal with chronic illness on a daily basis. I am really excited about this new door the Lord has opened up for me.
My biggest challenge is to restrict my devotionals to 300 words or less! I know if you have read any of my posts you will totally understand my predicament!! Haha! But, at the same time it is a challenge I am working on and am honing as I continue to write. I imagine that I will still post on Songbird periodically as the Lord leads, so please stay tuned! :)
If you would like to read my first devotional that was posted October 17th titled, "Having an Attitude of Submission This Season" you may go to one of these two websites Restministries.com and Chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com. Rest Ministries also has a Facebook page titled HopeKeepers for Chronically Ill which posts the devotionals as well.
Rest Ministries deals with the chronically ill issue in a way that is committed to honoring the Lord and encouraging those who need ministered to. It can be very easy to slip into a victim mode when facing sometimes daunting physical challenges on a daily basis, and I believe this ministry does a great job in helping the chronically ill to focus on the Lord and not their situation.
I believe too, that even if you are not facing chronic illness as I do, that it is likely someone in your family or circle of friends is and I believe this ministry could help educate and bring comfort and encouragement to you as well.
As an analogy of one of the challenges those with chronic illness deal with on a daily basis faces, I was reminded of those of us who have become parents...remember when your baby was born and there was no shortage of opinions on how you should do this or that in regard to the care of the baby and especially if an issue came up regarding the baby's care?
That doesn't change as our children grow, there seems to be no end of advice on how we need to do whatever it is to fix our current situation with our child. How does that make you feel as a parent?
At first, we may welcome and even solicit advice from our friends and family...then there are times when it comes unsolicited. We come to a point where we simply have to do what we think is best as a parent.
When a person is chronically ill, there are times the same thing happens...thus the challenge. Though well intentioned and all given in love, it is just not what is needed. Therefore, a person with chronic illness has to come to a point where they simply have to do what they think is in their own best interest.
Just as in the analogy our children, an open ear or a word of encouragement is all that is necessary, unless solicited. It's hard, I know. I have done the same thing myself. We just want to make it all better and fix it. Sometimes we just can't. And I have learned that that's okay because ultimately we have a God who can and will...in His own timing.
Knowing that we have the love and support of those around us is some of the best medicine that a person with chronic illness can get. We all need a safe place to land and acceptance is like the soft fluffy pillow we can land on. It allows us to free fall into the safety of being who we are and where God has placed us, that's all any of us needs.
My song and my prayer today is that regardless of our circumstances...whether we have health issues, money issues, relationship issues, I could go on and on, you can fill in the blank, that we seek to be that fluffy pillow for those around us. When we do that we reflect our Father's ultimate safe place (fluffy pillow) of love and acceptance, which is the ultimate goal.
Until next time, Blessings!
Songbird
No comments:
Post a Comment